Arrogance and Animosity
by tmwillson3
Summary: After Sarah leaves the Underground, both are affected. Jareth is now too proud to allow feelings, and Sarah is unhappy with all men. When they are forced together, it will take a little humor and help from Jane Austen to make things right again. On Hiatus until Spring 2013.


Author's Disclaimer: Sorry, but I still do not own Labyrinth. Alright! Another story, just as the summary and title suggest, this is another way in which Sarah and Jareth are brought together, this time with the help of _Pride and Prejudice _to show the way. I hope you will like it! Let me know what you think of it, I love hearing from you all and your reviews :) I realize it gets a little long and wordy, but it is my style. I will try to make sure there is less of that in future chapters. Also, I will be touring around Europe for the next 2 weeks, so I will be writing more on my train rides, just not uploading as often as I would like. Enjoy!

Arrogance and Animosity- A Tale Involving Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 1: Arrogance and Animosity: Together Again

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman, in possession of great bravery, beauty, and intelligence, must be in want of a husband. However little known the feelings or views of such a woman may be on her first entering a goblin kingdom, this truth is so well fixed in the mind of the governing king, that she is considered the rightful property of the king. Or so he thought, until said girl refused him outright.

Poor Jareth. The great king of the Underground was still single after many years, and after finally finding the right girl, and then doing everything within his power to please her, found himself being spurned and hated. Needless to say, after arguing and proposing to Sarah, upon hearing Sarah's words and having his hopes and dreams shattered, he was greatly upset. And like any male, he went through all the stages one feels when spurned.

First, he was in denial, and so for several days, he went about as though all was well. And then one morning, upon being woken up by his goblins and not seeing Sarah with him, his anger came up in full form. For a full week, any goblin not of absolute importance who approached him suffered the fate of being kicked out the nearest window into the Bog of Eternal Stench, until he so tired of kicking that he just poofed them there with one move of the hand. After the necessary amount of anger at being spurned, he was upset with himself for not removing the necessary boundary of Sarah's brother's life from the equation, and so for a time, he was very quiet and thoughtful. However, after all of three hours, he was back in an angry mood and kicking things with a vengeance again. After that, and seeing the state that he was in, his rational mind kicked in briefly so that he could be sorrowful for a short time, mourning the loss of the woman he loved, until the mind let go so that he could be moody and distant for some time. That lasted several weeks. However, after all that, the mind came back fully, with only one thought in mind, that it was all Sarah's fault. She was willful, stupid, and certainly not worth his time or energy, so he ought to forget about her.

However, that was easier said than done. For all of three days, he did not think of her until he saw Hoggle, and then she came to his mind. Likewise, whenever he had female visitors, he was reminded of her and why she was so much better, unconsciously comparing all to her. After suffering from that problem for several years, he finally gained what he desired, control over his feelings at a cost: losing his heart. With control, he was able to control and run his kingdom far more effectively than he had in a long time, making new measures to keep all in line, with more restrictive rules for the goblins. Now, he rarely allowed visitors, as many were women, and he didn't like women. First, they reminded him of Sarah, and secondly, since they were women, they were likely just as willful and stupid and Sarah, as some confirmed easily for him. Over time, he became a great deal more proud and arrogant than he had ever thought was possible, even though he was not aware of it himself. It was the only way to have control, and always be in charge after all, and not have a weakness, like being in love with a woman. His feelings became nonexistent, all mercy for his subjects and friends disappeared, and so a new force entered, Jareth's father.

Jareth's father, High King Gareth, was old in years and very wise. He had fallen in love with his wife many years ago, but his wife had died some years back, before Jareth had found Sarah. He knew what it was like to fall in love, but he also knew how Jareth used to be, and he did not approve of Jareth's current condition of loss of all feelings and humility. More complaints were coming in of what Jareth did, and so the High King took it upon himself to help his son. He did not what was best, so he went to see him directly. After trying his luck by bringing in some of the local beauties and seeing how they were all immediately rejected, it was time to try another tack to bring Jareth back, manly chats. However, upon seeing how Jareth refused to speak of women at all, especially Sarah, and then how he spoke of all fae, with total unconcern and feelings of superiority over them all, Gareth knew just what he had to do. If Jareth was unwilling to show his feelings here, or to show humility, he would find a way to force Jareth into doing so, in order to help his son move on from Sarah, or if nothing else, to be more capable of taking care of the kingdom.

"Son," said Gareth, "are you sure that you are greater than them all?"

"Yes, of course, I am, father, except for maybe you. But you are High King, so that is expected."

"Yes indeed, but I do worry about you, my son. You seem to take no great joy in anything anymore. You rarely sing and dance, and the only mischief you make regularly is to kick out unsuspecting goblins whenever you feel like it. Are you sure you are completely okay?"

"Yes, of course, father. Do you not trust me?"

"To be quite honest, no I do not. I have been hearing more complaints of late..."

"Yes, well, that happens always in any kingdom."

"Not as much as there is here. Are you sure you want to continue doing this?"

"Of course I do! This is my only joy in life, to serve."

"That is what worries me. You don't take joy in anything else but this, then you will end up being very lonely and upset for all your life, and that could turn you into a bad ruler. Are you sure there are no other joys, or problems you are experiencing?"

"None, father, I am completely fine."

"You are not."

"Yes I _am!_ I am quite normal!"

"No, you are _not._ Something is quite wrong, you never get this upset this fast, it is just not like you."

"This is how I always am!"

"No, this is how you have been since Sarah left you. There is a difference. Something is wrong, let me help you."

"You can't."

"Fine, then until you have learned the proper humility, I will send you somewhere where you can learn humility and care for others, so that you can better take care of your kingdom. I don't like doing this, but it is for your own good. Don't worry, I will take care of this place while you are gone."

"What are you do-" And with that, Jareth was sent away, to a place where he would learn how the other half lives.

Meanwhile, in an apartment called Longbourne, in the city of New London, Sarah Williams was living the good life while in college, or so she thought.

Just as Jareth had after-effects from her leaving, so too Sarah had many unresolved feelings from leaving the Goblin Kingdom. Upon immediately coming home, Sarah was quite glad to come home and have Toby, her dear brother, back and safe. Even better, for the next two years, she had great times with her new friends from the Labyrinth, who visited regularly every week. However, as time passed, she couldn't help but notice slight differences between her and other girls, as well as the types of guys there were. She was always by herself, which she had been before, but now that she was back from her adventure in the Labyrinth, she was far more grown up, and had no interest in hanging out with the often catty and superficial girls, and the ever immature boys. Worse, every time she met a new guy, she found herself comparing him to Jareth. At first, it was second nature, and then, when she started wondering why she never dated, she saw her problem.

Jareth had invaded her life in a big way, and he refused to leave. As a result, she began to make adjustments based on it. Jareth was a villain, plain and simple. He tried to take advantage of her fears and feelings in order to make her lose the game, but she still won. And she had no intention of playing that kind of game again, especially with him or any other male. To help her in way of thinking about men, she discovered _Pride and Prejudice. _It was then that she found Mr. Darcy, the greatest brooding hero she could find, who was so much more of a gentleman than anyone else she knew, that she found herself liking him a great deal. That didn't mean she didn't think of Jareth; to the contrary, she only thought of him more as she compared how good Darcy was to how bad Jareth was. Not to mention, after having a couple bad relationships, she simply accepted that no man was any good, that all had no hope of being good. She was prejudiced against all men, especially Jareth. She held the greatest hate and animosity toward Jareth, and should she have ever met him again, no doubt she give him a piece of her mind.

Never mind that he had managed to give her the adventure she had always dreamed of, that he had been the means of making her love her brother and rest of her family so much more, besides give her new reasons to go to school, and make her own way in life so that she would never be dependent on such a man. Unfortunately, she found herself becoming entirely independent all on her own, without needing anyone outside of her family, until she came to college. Upon entering college, more changed. She stopped calling on her Underground friends, as it was now time for her to grow up, and they needed to move on with their lives, and no doubt had other things to do besides spend time with her.

In addition, she finally found friends whom she considered reasonable, though they were far and few between. Her best friend was one Charlotte Lukas, an interesting friend if ever there was one. While Sarah double majored in English and Drama in the hope of acting one day, Charlotte wanted to become a playwright, like her favorite playwright William Shakespeare. As a result, Sarah and Charlotte met in English class, and then Sarah convinced Charlotte to help the acting department in various management roles since she was good at yelling at people and keeping a deadline. Charlotte certainly didn't appear quite so daunting, but she was all the same.

With blond, almost white hair, except for one streak of red she always kept, middling height of 5 foot 6 inches, and more period clothes than to know what to do with, other than to wear them all the time, Charlotte was eccentric and completely in love with Shakespeare. She had read all his works multiple times, and she thought him the wittiest person ever to live, evidenced by the way in which she quoted his works every day, with her favorite quotes being his famous insults. She never got tired of calling people out and telling people what to do. In her spare time, she wrote plays and helped the plays that Sarah asked her to help with. Overall, they were two very good friends, who both shared a love for men they could never have. The bond of love for literature held them, and while both lived separately, they both had keys to the other's room should a lockout occur or a girls night be in order. But, Charlotte still worried about Sarah, as did everyone who knew Sarah from classes or acting. Sarah was a devoted student actor, but she did nothing else, and didn't care about socializing or men, and when men did get in her way, she had a way of becoming like Charlotte, with her colorful insults. No one knew what to do, or how to help. Thankfully, fate found a way to come back with a vengeance, in the form of High King Gareth. And so, one night at the beginning of the last semester of Sarah's college career, Sarah found herself being distracted from her work by a loud thud. Being the curious type to see if Charlotte had come to bother her, Sarah went out with her late night coffee to investigate.

Meanwhile, in Sarah's living room, Jareth was feeling the after-effects of landing ungracefully on a carpeted floor. His butt ached, and he was greatly disoriented and confused why he was Aboveground in some apartment. After trying unsuccessfully to leave, and seeing that he was stuck Aboveground, Jareth took to figuring out where he was. It was obvious he was in a woman's apartment, based on the furnishings, with a pretty good sense of décor and sense, too. It was then he heard the movements from within the house.

"Oh no," he groaned, "where has my father taken me?" It was then that he paid attention to the pictures on the wall, and saw two girls, the blond one rather odd, but the dark-haired, well, she was something else. The hair so dark, like night, and long too. Beautiful emerald eyes, just as he liked them. And such a body. He could have stared at it for hours, except he then saw the smile she had. It was so familiar, so full of joy as he remembered from years ago, but he didn't know why. That was when he heard her voice. "No, it can't be. He wouldn't, he couldn't, he's not that stupid is he?"

Unfortunately, when Sarah did not hear Charlotte responding as she normally did, and then heard rustling and some low mumbles, she began to panic. "Whoever you are, come out now or else."

She was not expecting anyone to come out, especially Jareth, who had a rather scornful grimace for her when he said, "Hello again, Sarah." Sadly for him, Sarah did what came naturally to any woman who realizes that her privacy has been invaded by someone she dislikes, and so panics. She did the only thing a scared woman can do, use the things around her to protect herself, which in this case happened to be the cup of coffee in her hand, now being flung onto his face and hair with a direct hit. Jareth was only slightly upset at being thus treated.

"_What _was _that _for?" I did as you asked, I came out. Why must you always be so stupid and then go and do a thing like that for?" The accusation and scorn in his voice were thick. Not that Sarah noticed, as she was far too upset to think rationally as well.

"You want to know _why _I would do a thing like that? I'll tell you why, because you scared me! How often do you have strange people come and invade your home?"

"First of all, I am not "strange people". Secondly, I did not come here of my own accord, this was forced upon me, and it is clear from the way my magic is working, that I cannot leave here either."

"Why can't you leave?"

"How should I know? I've been trying for the last ten minutes to leave this house, let alone the Aboveground. However, as I cannot for whatever unfathomable reason my father has, it seems I am stuck here until he decides that I can come back."

"Well, maybe your father wants you here Aboveground, but I do _not _want you in my home, not now or ever. You will leave my home at once."

"You would really do that to me, Sarah? After our relationship together?"

"Relationship, my foot. And, in answer to your question, yes, I would gladly throw you out onto the street after all that you did to me, or have you forgotten how you sent the cleaners after me?"

That barely ruffled Jareth. "Not at all, but really, you were asking for it. You wanted a challenge, so I gave it to you. I did as you wished."

"I did not want a challenge, especially not to have to win back my brother from your evil clutches, or to have the cleaners be leashed on me. No one in their right mind would wish for such a thing like that."

"You did, you wanted an adventure, and I gave it to you. Is that so hard to wrap your mind around, little Sarah?"

"No, I can see that perhaps I dreamed of it, but last I checked, people don't have the right to invade other people's dreams, outside or inside the Labyrinth. Especially through drugged peaches."

That did bother Jareth. Being reminded of the time that he did watch her dreams and when he finally had indulged in joining her dreams in an effort to win her over, he was sent away without a second thought as though he was nothing. He would not make that mistake again any time soon, not with Sarah back in his life. He would show her who was in charge. "I had to do what was necessary to win the game, I had to distract you somehow." As much as it pained him to lie like that, it was necessary, or else be forced to acknowledge the even bigger truth of his weakness of having feelings for her. That he would never do again if he could help it.

Sarah was not pleased with what he had to say, as it only confirmed her earlier view of his actions, of just how selfish and evil he was. No matter, she was much older, and now she would have the final say. "I thought as much. Always so wrapped up in yourself to care about others and their feelings."

"Hardly! It was _you _who had no concern for anyone's feelings!" He realized too late what he had said.

"So tell me, just whose feelings did I hurt? Your nonexistent ones?"

"No, your friends' feelings. Why did you stop calling them? Because you forgot about them."

"I did not! I told them that I was going to college and that I would be busy."

"Busy in order to forget."

"I did not! I'm sure they had better things to do than to be forced to spend time with me."

"That is where you are wrong. They loved and valued your friendship, and you let them down. How do you think they feel being told to go away?" He didn't know how they felt, only that they had stopped visiting her. He figured it would work in his favor.

"I, I, I didn't realize they felt that way. I thought they were tired of me."

"How could anyone ever tire of being around you?" He was quite exasperated, both with her for her feelings, and with himself for putting his mouth where he tried not to go or admit. Luckily, it worked in his favor.

"Well, I was mistaken. And I am sorry for it. But it still does not give you the right to come into my house like this, so late at night. Some of us have to actually work."

"I don't expect you to understand how much I work, or that I do not do this willingly, as I would much rather be anywhere than with you. However, as I am stuck here, I demand a place to stay. It's the least you can do."

"I don't have to do a blasted thing if I don't want to! You aren't the boss of me, and if you do have magic, go use one of your balls to create a home and stay there, away from me. I don't want you here. Now get out."

"Sarah." Jareth was now grounding out the words. He was most seriously displeased. "I cannot. I have tried. And I still cannot. I have to stay here, so you can either fight it, or accept it and make the best of the situation."

"And what situation is that? And who is that Sarah? Is that a male voice I hear for once? One with an English accent? What light from yonder window breaks? Can it be? What have we here? Young lovers?" And with such an entrance, Charlotte entered her good friend's apartment. She had heard the voices, had given them a moment, but when her curiosity got the better of her and she heard the English accent, she found herself seeing just who the mysterious male guest was. Could it be that Sarah had finally found love?

Sadly, she was met with a very different situation, that of seeing her good friend standing on tiptoe, with a very fierce look of distrust and defiance on her face, meanwhile the man, if he really were human, which she rather doubted from his fine and rather well-endowed features, looked quite beautiful and menacing as he glared back at Sarah with a scornful glance. It looked as though there was something going on, something was rotten in the state of Denmark. And it was her job to find out what was that something. "Sarah, are you okay? Can I help you, or do you have the _situation _under control?"

"Charlotte," said Sarah. This was not what she needed right now, to have Charlotte ask questions and get involved. And so, using her acting experience for extemporaneous speaking, she made up something on the spot. "I'm so glad you came to visit. As you can see, I have a new guest."

Both heads turned at hearing that come out of her mouth. Jareth was quite pleased to get his way, confused at how the other girl got in, but figured she must be well-known if she could just appear without getting yelled at. Charlotte meanwhile looked doubtfully at her best friend. "Yes, it does seem as though you have a new guest. Would you mind telling who and why he is here though? Why didn't you tell me? Something like this ought to be told."

"Well, this was all rather unexpected, to be quite honest. I didn't realize I was going to have him here until earlier today. So, going back to your question, his name is Jareth, Jareth King. He is an exchange student from England, coming from a wealthy family, to spend this semester here at our college. He is studying child development here. Sadly, housing decided the experience would not be complete without him staying in another student's room, so I have been forced to house him unless I can find another place to out him in the meantime. Any other questions?" Yes, Sarah didn't like the idea of having Jareth around, but she did like the idea of him being under her rules and being ordered around by her, so maybe she would have some fun. What was the worst that could happen?

"No, I'm just surprised, that is all. Normally you are supposed to give some kind of warning for this kind of thing. Hopefully they are paying you well to do this?"

One brief, shared look between Sarah and Jareth told Sarah what to say. "Oh yes, they are paying _quite _well, as it so happens."

"Oh good, this means that someone will be able to use that extra room you have. And, you finally get to meet someone from England. Obviously, I'm getting in the way of you two getting to know each and settling in, so I'll come back tomorrow early, to check and make sure World War Three hasn't broken out. Just don't let this most impenetrable cur tell you what to do okay? Good night!" And without another word, Charlotte left the two to their own devices, convinced that now that they could see how they were acting, that they would now get along and that all would be well.

Naturally, neither Sarah nor Jareth were quite willing to fight or give up the fight, so they continued to stare at one another until Jareth finally spoke out of necessity. "Who was that most odd and colorful person who just invaded your living quarters? Does she live here?"

"No, as it so happens, her name is Charlotte, and she is my best friend, which is why I gave her a key to come in whenever she needs to."

"Aren't you afraid she will come in and do something or steal something? It isn't wise or safe to give someone access like that. It is a serious weakness."

"Well, as it so happens, she is my best friend, and I trust her completely, though I doubt you could understand that."

"Yes, well, in any case, did you mean what you said, that I could stay? I would very much appreciate having my own bed."

"For the time being, yes, you can stay. But, only because I have work to do and want to get back to it so I can go to bed soon, as I have classes. Which reminds me, we will go and register you for classes."

"Don't worry," Jareth said with a wave of his hand, "it is already done. I start in two days."

"Well, that was easy. Okay then, go and do whatever you want, but whatever you do, keep this in mind: you are no longer Underground, you are in my house, so you follow my rules. You don't want to, leave now. If you want to stay, just keep out of my way, so that means that you cannot stay up late, or keep me awake late, as I have work of my own to do and have classes, so you are on your own to cook and clean. I will tell you all of your duties tomorrow. For now, I will show you your room, and then I have work to do. Let's go."

And so, Jareth found his new room, full of every convenience necessary, except his own clothes, which he soon made appear. Sarah reminded him that he would need books and supplies, and a computer to do the homework. He was not too pleased to hear about the computer, but he let Sarah go so that she could work.

"Well, it seems that I will wish you good night at this time, as you have work to do. Good luck." Jareth gave a slight nod of his head.

"Thanks. All right, night." She was uncertain what to say, so something was good. With that, Sarah proceeded to do her work and go to sleep. Jareth meanwhile wandered through his room, trying to decide how to get out of the house.

And so passed the first night of Sarah and Jareth living under the same roof.

Author's Note: The end of chapter one! Hope you liked it! :)


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